supermario

That is alot of N, but I think you'll be fine. However, I'm no expert.

Now that you have a few recommendations, there is no harm in looking into other fertilizers. In some cases, it may even be cheaper. I get a 50lb bag of the 6-3-16 plus minors for under $20 from a local fertilizer plant. It's not the cheapest fertilizer you can find, but the best for the money in my opinion.

That's the other thing.. try and search you local area for nurseries and/or fertilizer companies. The prices tend to be better than at the big retail store garden centers.

The important thing to take from this is that bananas like fertilizers with about a 2:1:6 ratio. Examples: (Banana fuel 15-5-30 = 3:1:6 ratio, 6-3-16 = 2:1:5, MG 24-8-16 = 3:1:2). Am I making sense?..or am I making up a new science?

I forgot to mention that I also apply extra potash every few months. Especially in the summer. So, a fertilizer like banana fuel would probably do away with that requirement.

Patty in Wisc

24-8-16 is what I use for my citrus. It's the perfect ratio of NPK for them. Citrus like more nitrogen & nanas like more potash (K).
Mario, you make perfect sense
Before I found Banana Fuel, I used miracle grow tomato food. I forgot the exact ratio but it had more k.

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Patty in Wisc has sadly passed away 9/05/11. We will miss you Patty.

sbl

As for cheap fertilizer, I recently found a farmers Co-op nearby that sells bulk fertilizer. I had been buying 5# bags of ammonium sulfate for my blueberries at 4-5$, but I now have over 50 blueberry bushes and I needed to find it in bigger amounts. I was going to buy a 50# bag ($15) from the Co-op, but they were out--he said that they had some in bulk if I had something to put it in, so I told him I wanted 50#--it was a little over $7. They have all kinds of fertilizer in bulk and can mix up any ratio you want in larger quantities.

Richard

Great for ornamental bananas. The higher potash levels are desired by the fruiting varieties. I know that the U of F extension has one article describing 2:1:6 ratios but many of the other sources including the Yale banana expert on this site (inkcube) calls for 16:1:24, or more practically: 2:x:3 where x is smaller than 2.

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sandy0225

24-8-16 is good summer food. use it during the warm months. for winter use very dilute 20-10-20, or 20-20-20. I often use 24-8-16 during the summer at 300 ppm, but 20-10-20 every third or fourth watering at 100ppm.

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Northern Tropics Greenhouse
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specializing in bananas, heirloom tomatoes and water gardening plants~
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bencelest

Sandy:
Please tell us again how do you compute 300ppm in terms in tspn/cup etc to add to your plant. I forgot. I think Richard posted this a long while ago.

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Richard

Benny,
The measurement must be done by weight of the specific water-soluble fertilizer.
For 20-x-x at 100ppm Nitrogen, you need 0.0675 ounces weight per gallon of water.
For 24-x-x at 300ppm Nitrogen, you need 0.1689 ounces weight per gallon of water.

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supermario

Actually,it was my mistake. I came up with the 2:1:6 number off the top of my head, but U of F recommends a 3:1:6 ratio. I also failed to mention that the recommendations from the site are specific to us here in FL.

Is there any reason why other sources recommend such a low phosphorus count?

Richard

Low uptake by the plant in proportion to other nutrients, permanance of phosphorus in most soils, lack of necessity to promote bloom.

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bencelest

Richard:
0.068 oz and 0.169 oz how is that in terms of teaspoonful?

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Richard

Benny, you have to take your fertilizer and weigh it with say, a kitchen scale. Weigh one measuring cup of fertilizer and then weight the empty cup to get the actual weight. Whatever that weight is, divide by 48 to obtain the weight of 1 teaspoon, or divide by 16 to obtain the weight of 1 tablespoon.

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bencelest

Thanks Richard.

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austinl01

I bought some Lowe's Garden Select fertilizer yesterday for my bananas. I tried to find a high-low-high ratio. What do you think about 16-2-12? It's the closest to the recommended ratio that I could find in any local stores.

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sandy0225

I'm spoiled, I have fertilizer injectors that inject the fertilizer into the water at a ratio of 1:100, so to get 200 ppm, I just weigh up 13 ounces of my 20-20-20 and stir that into a gallon of water and the injector portions it out. So I'm not sure of the exact measurement you'd need for a gallon or two. it does take 13 ounces to do 100 gallons though, so .13 ounces would be for 1 gallon. The Plant marvel website says that 1 ounce is approximately 2 tablespoons and one cup is approximately one pound if that helps. Sounds like .13 ounces is about 1/7th of 2 tablespoons. For banana purposes, then that would be a little less than a teaspoon per gallon to get 200 ppm. Correct me if I'm wrong, though. I think your average kitchen scale wouldn't be accurate enough for measuring that. My legal for trade scale I use at the farmers market won't get it on that small of an amount.

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Northern Tropics Greenhouse
1501 East Fuson Road
Muncie, IN 47302
www.northerntropics.com


specializing in bananas, heirloom tomatoes and water gardening plants~
check out our new online store at our website!

Richard

Good for ornamental bananas. For fruiting kind I would add a potassium supplement such as Sul-Po-Mag or Potassium Citrate.

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Richard

A strategy is to find a proportion that works for a small number of whole teaspoons (or tablespoons) and gallons. For example, to get 200ppm of Nitrogen from Scotts 15-5-15 +Cal,Mg you would use 5 teaspoons per 7 gallons of water.

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jmoore

I like the way everyone mixes up their measurements, ounces and gallons being an imperial or US measurement ppm (parts per million or mg per litre) being a metric measurement, could get confusing.

If you don't have the scales make up a stock solution and dilute it down everytime you want to feed. Saves all the "oooo it might half a teaspoon...oh no what size teaspoon" confusion.

Or does it really have to be that accuate?

supermario

I've mentioned this before, but here goes...

Do you have any nurseries nearby? If you do, you should ask them for a source of fertilizer. Alot of the time, you may find that you have somewhere nearby that has more selection at a fraction of the price. I did this a few years ago and now get my fertilizer from the same place most local nurseries do. I used to pay about $1/lb for some fertilizers, but now I don't pay anymore than $0.40/lb!

bencelest

Or go to the internet. Just type the kind of fertizer you want and check the nearest dealer and call them for the price.

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steven

is it ok if i use about a 1 tsp of dry miracle gro plant food and then water it or is 1 tsp not ok to use

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